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    Oracle Standard Edition 2 High Availability (HA)

    Oracle introduced SE2HA as an answer to customer frustration after dropping RAC support on Standard Edition 2. But questions remain about licensing terms, compatibility, and whether this truly solves the high-availability gap. Here's our initial analysis.

    Dean Bolton

    Dean Bolton

    Co-Founder & Chief Architect, LicenseFortress

    May 2020
    2 min read
    Oracle Standard Edition 2 High Availability (HA)

    In response to customer feedback and demands, Oracle has introduced a new product/license known as Oracle Standard Edition 2 High Availability (SE2HA). This announcement comes almost a year after the de-support of Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) on Oracle Standard Edition 2 starting with Oracle Database 19c. Markus Michalewicz, Oracle's Senior Director of Product Management, provides insights into this new offering in a recent blog post titled "Standard Edition 2 – We Heard You! Announcing: Standard Edition High Availability."

    We are still waiting on further details regarding availability and licensing, however, here are some initial highlights and questions based on the information available:

    1. HA primarily focuses on the Grid infrastructure rather than the database itself. This suggests that SE2HA may resemble RAC One Node for SE2 more closely than traditional RAC.
    2. The critical question revolves around the licensing implications of SE2HA. Will there be an additional 20% charge similar to RAC One Node, or a 50% fee akin to RAC? Alternatively, could Oracle include SE2HA in the existing SE2 pricing structure?

    For organizations operating multiple SE2 databases and seeking to enhance their uptime and availability, the introduction of SE2HA could be a highly valuable solution. Contact us to discuss your options.

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    About the author

    Dean Bolton

    Dean Bolton

    Co-Founder & Chief Architect, LicenseFortress

    Dean leads LicenseFortress' technical licensing practice, covering Oracle, VMware, virtualization and infrastructure licensing rules.